Where Legacy And Destiny Intertwine
by alms4anxleper
Summary: Welcome to Tokyo 3! An AI run metropolis where the recreation super drug LCL runs rampant, where misfits can satisfy their every desire, where gangs & big business clash violently on the streets. Why wouldn't a shy boy like Shinji Ikari want to come here?


NGE and all its related characters are the property of Gainix.

Sometime in the past..

As was often the case at a funeral, it appeared that nature herself understood that the sun could not be allowed shine when a body was being lowered into the ground. And so it was that instead of a bright day, the small number of mourners were instead treated to a slowly building wall of noise as thunder drummed ominously from the dark cascading clouds that churned above the small funeral plot.

"Perfect," Kozo Fuyutsuki muttered to himself as the long threatened rain finally began to hammer down. Through the mealstorm, he glanced over at the young boy who stood bewildered and unknowing amongst the small cluster of adults. Then again, how could the child be expected to know or understand that it was his very mother that they were here to put in the ground. Pushing any thoughts of the brilliant young woman he had cherished aside, he made his way slowly over to the boy, all the while absently playing with the small ornate box in his hand.

He shared a quick nod with the child's minders before leaning down in front of him, the now departing gatherers already forgotten about. The old man was almost forced to look away when the child regarded him with those big curious eyes that were so like his mother's it hurt to look at him, but he was made of stern stuff and shook it off before anyone could notice and plastered what he hoped was a kind smile on his face.

"Hello Shinji," his voice was quiet but it still carried over the cacophony coming from the skies above them. "I need you to come with me now." The boy immediately grabbed the hand proffered to him and Fuyutsuki could only marvel at this child's innocence. How long until the world would crush that naivety out of him.

They made an odd pair as they walked through the grass towards the small row of cars gathered in the gravel parking lot. The little boy skipped through the growing puddles and hummed some childish tune while Fuyutsuki stared straight ahead, his pace slow to allow for the child as he wished that he could be the one living in a world where a concept such as death didn't exist.

As they finally reached a large dark SUV that would shepherd the young boy off to a state run home, he stopped and knelt down by the boy, ignoring the door that had opened upon their arrival.

"Shinji," he began, almost faltering again when Shinji fixed him again with those high-beams. "Your mother gave me something very special that she told me I had to give you if she ever...went away. Hold out your hand for me."

Again, there was immediate compliance. Opening the small box he carried, he removed an old ornate watch and closed the strap around Shinji's thin wrist. "When you're older, when you'll understand, I want you to come to me and I will tell you about your mother and how special she was and how all the work that she did is changing the world."

If Shinji understood any of this he didn't give any indication as he gazed at the silver watch that was still too large for his slim wrists. He placed a pudgy finger over the second hand of the time-piece and laughed out loud when it jarringly reappeared. Fuyutsuki wanted to say something about holding onto those precious seconds but he realized he'd just be talking to himself. Knowing that there was nothing more he could say, he grasped the boy beneath the armpits and lifted him to the waiting vehicle. Shinji gave a small wave as the door shut which Fuyutsuki didn't have the heart to answer.

Though he could no longer see the young Ikari through the tinted windows of the SUV, he watched the vehicle as it crunched it way through the gravel and made its way out of the cemetery until all that could be seen through the sheets of rain was a pair of fading tail-lights. He wished he could have done more for the young child but there was no way he was going to put him with the two young vipers that he was already rearing. Those two would eat the sweet little boy alive despite the fact they were practically siblings. No it was better that he simply get lost in the bureaucracy of child welfare, to grow up ignorant of who his mother was and how instrumental she was in shaping the world of the coming century.

15 Years later

Clutching all of his worldly positions in a small suitcase, it took all of the young man's self control to not run screaming from his seat every time the carriage he was travelling in departed from its usually smooth trajectory. Under normal circumstances he considered himself quite a good traveler but the bullet-train's speed coupled with the fact that they weren't physically attached to anything unsettled his limited sense of the way world worked no end.

"Never been on the Maglev before son?" one of his cabin mates, a kindly looking middle aged woman asked, sensing his distress.

He shook his head vigoursly, almost afraid to open his mouth in case the contents of his stomach finally found the out they had been looking for since the journey began.

"You shouldn't worry my dear. I've been riding this line for over a decade now and there's never been one accident or even a delay in that whole time. Leaves on the track won't stop this old girl," she commented jovially, genially patting the plastic table that separated them.

Shinji tried a weak smile but his heart wasn't in it. He'd feel a lot better when he's feet were on solid ground and not floating above almost 30 feet above it in a metal tube of death that was screaming through the early morning countryside.

"Is it your first time to Tokyo 3?" she asked.

Shinji simply nodded.

"Well, you're in for a treat then. It's a city for the young or so they say. Place even gets an old hand like me feeling all lightheaded every time I step off the train and I've been doing this for a long time. So are you visiting friends or something?"

"No I'm..." Shinji croaked initially, not realizing how dry his throat was. After coughing for a moment (furthering his embarrassment) he continued, his quiet voice still audible over the hum of the train. "I got placed in a job so I..." he shrugged, not sure what else there was to say. If there was one topic the taciturn boy hated above all others it was himself.

"Well lucky you," she stated grasping that she had probably met the shyest boy on the face of the planet. For a moment she feared what the anything goes attitude that Tokyo 3 bred in its inhabitants would do to such a boy. While the growing metropolis wasn't exactly lawless, there was a number of places where you just didn't go unless you had something of a death wish and a great medical plan. Then again the kid struck her as the kind of person who would easily adapt to the role of office drone that one found in most major cities and would never once veer off the beaten track.

"So what's the job?"

"I'm ah, not sure to be honest. They, um, the company offers placements to state kids and I was lucky enough to get one. I don't even remember applying for it to be honest" he finished with a nervous chuckle.

"What's the name of the company? Maybe I've heard of them."

From a shirt pocket he fished out a small business card and handed it over to the woman. Anyone who spent more then thirty seconds in Tokyo 3 recognized the logo immediately. An upturned apple with a distorted red fig leaf superimposed on it dominated the black card. Printed in bold red along the bottom of the card was simply one word

NERV

To be continued...


End file.
